


Sunburnt

by PBnJ



Category: The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance (TV)
Genre: Fluff, Gen, I love their bond so much, Or the Thra equivalent of aloe anyway, Shippy if you Squint, Short, Smidgen of hurt/comfort, Sunburn, aloe - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-18
Updated: 2019-09-18
Packaged: 2020-10-21 05:37:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 604
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20688389
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PBnJ/pseuds/PBnJ
Summary: Deet gets a sunburn on the way to Ha'rar. Luckily, Hup knows what to do.





	Sunburnt

Deet’s skin hurts all over. Even the top of her head is sore.

Deet winces as she brings a hand up to wipe her face. Her handkerchief is damp, and at this point she feels like she’s just spreading the perspiration around instead of picking any more up. As Deet lowers her hand, she gasps- her arm is pink!

Deet checks her other arm, and finds that it’s pink too. Hup stops walking. He asks her something, sounding concerned as he does.

“My skin- something’s wrong with my skin.” Deet shows Hup her arms.

Hup winces sympathetically. “Ooh.” Deet doesn’t understand most of his reply, but she catches the word “burn”.

“This is a burn?” Deet asks. 

Hup nods.

“Did the suns do this?”

More nodding. “Yeah. Sunburn.”

“Of course.” Deet murmurs. 

Her skin has never been touched by the suns before; it’s just not used to all this light and heat. 

“How serious is it?” Deet worries. She can’t afford to have anything seriously wrong with her right now; she’s got a journey to make.

Hup pats Deet’s hand reassuringly. Deet winces. Hup immediately removes his hand and says something that sounds apologetic.

“It’s all right.”

Hup gestures to a shady spot under a large tree. He beckons Deet animatedly. Deet follows him over to the tree. Hup pats the ground. Deet sits gingerly. 

Hup holds his palms out; Deet doesn’t need to speak Podling to understand that he wants her to wait here. That’s fine with her. 

Everything hurts a little less in the shade, but Deet’s skin is still glowing with heat. Deet closes her eyes, and swallows a knot of homesickness: she misses the cool darkness that doesn’t make her hurt all over.

Before long, she hears Hup’s quick little footsteps rustling through the grass. When Deet opens her eyes, she sees that Hup has several thick, spiky leaves in his hands.

“What are those?” Deet asks.

He says something that sounds like “low”.

Hup sets the leaves down. He pulls a large, thick piece of bark off the tree with a grunt. Then Hup sets one of the leaves on top of the bark and picks up a rock.

As Deet looks on, her Podling friend grinds the leaf into thick mush. Once he’s picked the spikes from the mush, Hup looks expectantly at Deet.

“Am I supposed to eat it?” Deet wonders.

Hup shakes his head. He rubs a hand up and down his arm.

“Oh! It’s for my skin.”

Hup nods enthusiastically. “Yeah!”

Deet dips three fingers into the mush. She experimentally brushes the mushy fingers across the back of her other hand. The pain immediately quiets down in that one spot. Deet hastily spreads the salve up her arm. She feels like she’s submerging that arm in cool water. 

Deet sighs with relief as she slathers her arms and her neck with the crushed leaf. While she applies the salve to her legs, Hup dips his own fingers in the mush and delicately dabs at her face. Deet closes first one eye, then the other, as he coats her cheeks.

“Thank you, Hup.”

“You’re welcome,” Hup chirps.

Deet laughs when Hup applies the salve on her ears. “How thorough of you.”

Hup’s not done yet. He smears a long stripe down her hairline. Only then does he sit back, satisfied. “Better?” He asks.

“Much better. Thank you.” Deet kisses Hup’s nose. He turns as pink as Deet’s sunburn, and Deet giggles.

Hup gathers up the rest of the leaves as Deet gets to her feet. They continue on their way, sticking to the shade whenever possible.

**Author's Note:**

> I live in a southern climate, and I've gotten sunburned many times. About ten minutes after watching the first couple of episodes, I said to myself, "Hey, Deet has such pale skin and she's never been in full sun before. What if she got sunburned all to heck during her journey?" 
> 
> My favorite part of this ficlet was Hup patting Deet's hand and experiencing instant regret; it seems like something I'd do.
> 
> I wasn't quite sure how to end this, and it probably shows. Oh well. 
> 
> I ship Hup and Deet so much. I think I'm one of, like, three people that doesn't ship Deet with Rian. I don't have anything against Rian; he's great. The brave and gentle ship just doesn't do it for me. (If anyone who ships Hup and Deet is reading this right now, 'sup.)
> 
> Thank you for reading. :)


End file.
